Mexico beat St. Lucia at NORCECA U-20 opener

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, July 8, 2014. - Mexico defeated St. Lucia in straight sets 25-7, 25-18, 25-8 at the opening match of the Women’s U-20 NORCECA Continental Championship on Tuesday at Teodoro Palacios Flores Gymnasium in Guatemala.

The Mexican team had no opposition from St. Lucia with their huge advantage in spikes by 36-13 and 14-3 in service points. Mexico also held a 6-3 margin in blocks.

Outside hitter Fernanda Guitron was the top scorer for Mexico with 12 points, 10 of them in kills; she was joined by middle blocker Patricia Valle also with 12 points and opposite Maria Fernanda Rodriguez chipped in with 11 points. St. Lucia’s best scorer was setter Skype Mondesir with 6 points.

“We gained confidence as the match developed; it is a wonderful feeling to start off with a victory and hopefully we’ll be less nervous for the next match as we’ll know each other more” said Mexican captain Fernanda Guitron.

Jedda Alcee, captain of St. Lucia was very excited and elaborated about they are just warming up “we might not be the most technical team, but the most eager one to learn and looking forward to improve. We were definitely nervous but we gathered up together to do our best, despite the team is not complete due to some of our teammates who couldn’t come because of minor injuries”.

Mexican coach Luis Leon said “the first match is complicated, even more when you don’t know anything about your opponent, which was the case today. The team performed well in the first set, in the second we had highs and lows, but the third set we took control again”.

St. Lucia’s coach Keam Charlery indicated “the team has many technical mistakes and they began too shaky. We are working on our chemistry as a team. Some players were part of the U-18 team that competed last week in Costa Rica and I expect them to gain more experience as this too is a challenging competition”.